Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes, left, shakes hands with clerk Pam Fenstermacher after purchasing marijuana at Cannabis City on Tuesday, July 8, 2014, in Seattle. (Elaine Thompson, The Associated Press/Pool)

No pot allowed at the office: Seattle City Attorney cops to breaking rule

Published: Jul 11, 2014, 5:50 pm • Updated: Aug 20, 2014, 1:54 pm

By The Associated Press

SEATTLE — Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes has admitted he broke a drug-free-workplace rule when he bought marijuana on the first day of legal sales in Washington state.

Holmes has been a big supporter of the legal marijuana law, and he says he wanted to be one of the first customers at Seattle’s Cannabis City on Tuesday to honor what he called a “tectonic shift” in policy. He says he then brought the two unopened packages back to City Hall before taking them home.

The next day, the city’s personnel department issued a memo reminding employees they can’t have marijuana when they’re on official business or at city offices.

Holmes issued an apology Friday and said he volunteered to donate $3,000 to the Downtown Emergency Service Center, an organization that provides housing for alcoholic, mentally ill or otherwise vulnerable people.